Strawberry Picking

We had a great time strawberry picking with the family. It was a bit late in the season, so the strawberries were few and small, but nothing beats this family outing... being outside on a farm, eating fresh berries, breeze ruffling the hair, sun rising over the trees.

2008 Recital

Adorable pictures of our little ballerina from the May recital...

Pirate Party

I'm finally posting about the big party for Brendan's 6th. He chose a pirate party so the boys decorated paper towel tubes to make spyglasses, then made pirate hats with construction paper. They were so excited to fight with their swords! They spent about half an hour sword fighting in the dance studio before Michael took them on an elaborate treasure hunt through the neighborhood. He made a map from googlemaps and pretended the roads were rivers (they had to swim across of course). Then he had certain lookout points and battle areas along the way. The treasure hunt ended with a big X on a dirt pile in the back yard where Michael buried real pirate treasure! (Chocolate gold coins.)

Here's the invitation, the map, and other fun shots of the party:

The pirates...

Digging for treasure... Found the loot...

We'll be out of town for two weeks on vacation... I'll post again when we return!

B's Family Party Highlights...

New reading material from Grandpa Matthew:

Church clothes from Grandma Susann:

Snorkel mask!

Larger bike:

Test ride:

Brendan celebrated his birthday week with both a family and a friend party. Here are a few shots from the family celebration. He was so excited to finally have a bike that fits! And thanks family for the thoughtful gifts. One special request was for a plate sized cookie instead of a birthday cake this year. Here it is:I'll post about the friend party soon...

Last days of spring...

Soccer season here and gone. B had a blast this year on the soccer team! He liked it oh so much more than baseball (I think it's the feeling of running free all over the place the WHOLE time that he enjoyed so much). He learned how to toughen up a bit too - getting used to falling and being knocked down frequently - so good for him. I can't believe how fast time flies and that he's already this big kid. When he was first born every new stage seemed to take ages and suddenly he is 6. And I feel old.

Sadly, the end of soccer season means the beginning of Houston's intensely hot summers. I think this weekend we'll reach 100 or is it 104? The other seasons are just lovely here but during the summer we have to be either indoors or at the pool. Next up: swim season!

Crayon Incident

One fine spring day not too long ago, while opening the dryer, I gasped as I discovered that the ENTIRE load was swirled with vivid shades of red, orange, blue, and purple crayon wax. The mischievous Crayolas were hidden in a knee pocket of a certain little boy's pant leg and they had a lovely time on their tumble through the load. I was also blessed with a beautiful swirl design on the inside of my dryer drum, which surely would have come off onto the next few loads.

Thanks to the trusty internet search engine, I was able to find several suggestions to ease the dreaded hours I anticipated to clean up the mess. First, for the dryer drum, I tried WD-40... said to work on anything... didn't work at all and emitted nauseating toxic fumes (I held my breath the whole time). After that unsuccessful attempt, I turned on the fan, closed the laundry room off for a few hours, and continued researching online.

One helpful blog reminded me that the clothes could wait - it was more important to first clean out the dryer so I could continue washing clothes through the week. Then I read on and the author suggested using inexpensive white paste toothpaste. I figured it was worth a try so I carefully opened the laundry room door to check for fumes (they had finally gone) and went to work with my tube of whitening toothpaste and a hard bristle scrub brush. Almost within seconds, the scrub brush loosened every bit of wax and the dryer was bright white and smelled minty fresh (no toxic fumes - although it did make me wonder whether the stuff is so good for teeth). I wiped down the inside of the drum and we were good to go.

Now to tackle the clothes. I figured it would be smart to try washing them again, just to see if anything came out, before attempting to pretreat every minuscule spot on every piece. Another blog explained that the the secret lies in melting the crayon with hot water and then using a soap with ingredients to attract the oil and wax out of the fabric. It suggested Murphy's Oil Soap, of which I have plenty, so I thought this would definitely be worth a try.

I added about 3/4 of a cup of concentrated laundry detergent (much more than I usually add), plus about the same amount of the oil soap. I set the cycle to extra hot (to melt the wax) with an extra rinse, and waited excitedly to see if it would get anything out.

Drumroll... I opened the washer and pulled out piece after beautiful piece of crayon free fabric. Not a single spot! This is definitely a good thing to pass along... I'm sure many a mom has hand treated crayon spots. Never again!

Here are some before and after shots of the clothes:

Picture Day

We recently held class pictures at the studio... here is a great shot of our little ballerina taken by our talented friend Amy Jo (http://www.amyjophoto.com/)
Thanks Amy for your work!

Our recital approaches quickly and I'm just thrilled to see the culmination of another year's work. Now let's hope the dancers remember the steps while dancing on the unfamiliar stage!